Issue 01 · 2026
The Karma Yogi Journal. Field notes for the long grind.
- Essays
- 78
- Exam tracks
- 5
- Topics
- 52
The Lead
The essay we keep coming back to.
The Archive
Everything else worth reading, ordered by date.
Page 7 / 8 · 77 entries
How to Analyse CAT Mocks: 5 Steps, One 96-40-94 Week
On 29 July I scored 96. On 30 July, 40. On 1 August, 94. Same person, four days, three mocks. Here is the actual analysis framework, worked through that stretch and one sectional test, rather than asserted in the abstract.
CAT Preparation for Non-Engineers: What a B.Tech Doesn't Buy
I have an engineering degree from BITS Pilani, so I can't speak firsthand to the non-engineer experience. What I can tell you is which section that degree actually helped with, and which one it did nothing for at all - my own DILR score moved two marks in three months of deliberate practice.
CAT Exam Time Management: What a 96-to-40 Crash Cost Me
On 29 July I scored 96. On 30 July, same knowledge, same person, I scored 40 - with 2 marks in DILR. The gap was not ability. It was 40 seconds spent staying on a set I should have abandoned. Here is what that mock taught me about time management.
CAT Reading Comprehension: The 6 Question Types It Tests
On 28 June my VARC score was 5, at the 15th percentile. The question that broke it: a passage about Descartes, an answer option that said "Descartes and other philosophers," and I picked it. Here is the inference-vs-overreach line that question sits on, and the other five RC question types CAT actually tests.
CAT Prep While Working Full-Time: 21 Hours in 59-Minute Bits
My weekly goal is 1,260 minutes - 21 hours - and my average session is 59 minutes, not the 2-hour blocks I imagined when I set the goal. Here is what working full-time actually does to a study schedule, in my own logged numbers.
CAT Cutoffs for Top IIMs: One Weak Section Filters You Out
A strong overall percentile can still get you filtered out by one weak section. My own VARC scores swung from the 12th percentile to the 92nd across five mocks I logged this quarter - here is why that swing is exactly what sectional cutoffs are designed to catch.
Best CAT Preparation Books: The 3 of 6 I Finished
I own six CAT prep books. I logged real hours against three of them and the other three sat closed after week two. Here is which ones earned their shelf space, checked against my own subject-tagged session log.
CAT Percentile vs Score: What 45 Real Mock Results Show
Percentile is not a function of score, and here is the proof: 45 real score-to-percentile pairs from 15 mocks, including a DILR score of 15 that landed at the 65th, 76th and 90th percentile on three different papers.
CAT 2026 Exam Pattern and Syllabus: The Non-MCQ Trap
The section-wise structure, timing, and marking scheme I keep pinned above my desk, plus the one rule about Non-MCQs that cost me marks on an early mock before I actually read it properly.
Mental Math for CAT: Why Tables Stop at 25, Not 12
Tables to 25, squares to 30, cubes to 20, and a handful of fraction-percent conversions - not because a list says so, but because the algebra behind each one shows exactly where the boundary should sit and why.
Colophon
Written between mocks. Edited between sits.
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